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The Rational Response Squad is a group of atheist activists who impact society by changing the way we view god belief. This site is a haven for those who are pushing back against the norm, and a place for believers of gods to have their beliefs exposed as false should they want to try their hand at confronting us.

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For my undergraduate work, I doubled in Music Composition and Nuclear Engineering. For years, I have been able to say that I am the only person I know with that span of interests... dammit! You've wrecked my little fantasy world!

Hehehe, sorry to burst your bubble. Luckily for you I am not a nuclear engineering student and am focusing on computer software and hardware. So you can continue to claim individuality yet.

However, my father was an electrical engineer and eventually a software engineer. I have hung out with many of his engineering friends who are now in their mid 50's. Quite a few of them are musicians and artists. I think that the link between music and engineering is more common than you might imagine.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare

I play drumset, primarily, an obsession of 11 years. However I have also been producing electronic music for the last 6, and learning guitar and piano for the last 2. So... I'm a drummer, but I'm getting better.

As far as my interests in music, I would say that I have a love of jazz, and folk, and an extreme passion for bossa-nova/samba inspired rhythms. I also love modern dance music and electronic music. Lately I have been finding this amazing amalgam of MPB (Musica Popular Brasil) which is what they call bossanova and modern dance music, which I am falling in love with.

Yes yes yes, My name contains the word paisley. He was clearly a big douche otherwise people wouldn't be giving me the virtual evil eye without ever even reading any of my posts. I am not the paisley that you suspect I may be. I don't ask that you believe me, just give me a break until I somehow prove that I am theist in disguise.

So when you state that you are a 'self described' atheist ~ does this mean that nobody else would call you atheist?

Ahh, so someone noticed my word play.

All that I am saying here is that I don't think I can really call myself an official atheist, since there really isn't a church of atheism.

I used to call myself a Satanist, and by Satanist I mean Anton LaVey and not devil worship. However, I think most of the satanists I have met are a bunch of tools and want nothing to do with that scene.

One of the things I liked about the ideas of Anton LaVey was his willingness to incorporate magic into his life. I think that magic and rituals are alot of fun. I also think that prayer has been quite proven to have a positive placebo effect, and to ignore the usefullness of ritual just because you don't want to get mixed up with the crazies who have lost touch with reality is counter-productive.

Also I would like to state for the record, that I would be happy to believe in ghosts, ufo's, and gods if I ever had any experience to validate their existence for me. I think that's what it means to be an open minded person. That being said, I have looked for ghosts and never had any sort of paranormal experience. I have asked god to come into my heart, and all I got was indigestion. I would love to have a UFO come and set down in my backyard one of these days, but since I really doubt that it's ever going to happen, I'm going to continue on my merry skeptical way. I HAVE talked to the devil, but I was high on LSD so I hardly think that counts.

I would love to hold a monthly event where everyone can suspend their disbelief and put aside the rational perspective for just a couple hours and have some fun. I imagine a huge bonfire, drums, instruments, costumes, people casting spells and throwing magnesium on the fire, people praying to whatever god they feel like praying to at the moment for whatever they want at the time, like sex, and money, if that is what they are desiring. I think it would be fun to be able to live in fantasy for a night, and then just shut it off the next morning and go back to your job.

So anyhow, that's what I mean by I am a self described Athiest. I realize that some of my ideas might not be accepted by everyone on this forum, but those people probably misunderstood me, or are just a little to militant and need to learn to relax.

Where did you get the idea that an -ist word has to be associated with a church?

'Church', as in, I don't believe that anyone has taken the time to actually establish a code of Atheism. I think the technical definition of an Atheist is 'Someone who does not believe in god', but that is a pretty broad definition. I could not believe in god, but believe that space aliens created humanity and are coming back someday to take us back to their mothership where they will throw a raging orgy until the end of time. I really doubt that anyone would consider me an 'Atheist' at that point although I would still fit the technical definition.

So anyhow, I just like to specify that I am 'self-described' because my definition of Atheism may differ from another persons. Really... don't look too far into it. It's just semantics.

Where did you get the idea that an -ist word has to be associated with a church?

'Church', as in, I don't believe that anyone has taken the time to actually establish a code of Atheism. I think the technical definition of an Atheist is 'Someone who does not believe in god', but that is a pretty broad definition. I could not believe in god, but believe that space aliens created humanity and are coming back someday to take us back to their mothership where they will throw a raging orgy until the end of time. I really doubt that anyone would consider me an 'Atheist' at that point although I would still fit the technical definition.

So anyhow, I just like to specify that I am 'self-described' because my definition of Atheism may differ from another persons. Really... don't look too far into it. It's just semantics.

That 'broad definition' is THE definition, and your words confuses people, so you are not achieving what you may be intending by using that phrase, it suggests to readers that you really aren't an Athiest.

IOW, it has the opposite effect - people are more likely to think you do have some kooky ideas, not less. Semantics is about communication here.